


Adventures In Babysitting

by shadedScribe



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping, Babysitting, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, I don't think it really counts as graphic but there is some violence in here, lol that tag contrast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:47:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25563814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadedScribe/pseuds/shadedScribe
Summary: Dick and Kory have an inconvenient Titans mission and someone needs to babysit Mar'i, and Damian is that someone. And if you think nothing eventful is going to happen while he's there, you haven't read enough comic books.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Koriand'r & Damian Wayne, Mar'i Grayson & Damian Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60





	Adventures In Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! Here's another fic set in my personal version of the DCU (the events in here were actually briefly alluded to in A Passing Shadow). My internet is back in business full-time now, so I'm hoping to get a few of my other fics updated soon. Enjoy!

“And you’re sure you’ve got everything you need?” Kory asked one last time as she got ready to leave.

“Everything for dinner is ready in the fridge and just needs to be reheated, you showed me all her toys and books, and I have my utility belt and a fully charged communicator with a direct line to you or anyone else on the Titans in case of emergencies.” Damian said. He wasn’t sure why Kory kept coming back to that; they’d been over everything several times already. Maybe she didn’t quite trust him? It had been Dick’s idea to ask him to babysit, not hers. Or then again, maybe Kory was just making sure because it was her daughter and she was a good mother; though he still hadn’t gotten to know Kory that well, Damian had no reason to think that she might think ill of him.

“Right.” said Kory. “Well, Dick and I should be back first thing tomorrow morning.” She turned to her daughter. “Now, you be good for Damian, alright?”

“Okay!” said Mar’i Grayson, with all the earnestness her four-and-a-half year old heart could muster.

“And have fun.” Kory leaned down and kissed Mar’i’s forehead. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“Love you too, Mama.” said Mar’i.

Kory smiled and walked out the door to go join Dick and the rest of the Titans, who were already at work eradicating a swarm of runaway mining robots that would undermine Long Island in the next few days if no one stopped them. With a last wave back at the two of them, she took off into the sky trailing green flames, quickly vanishing into the distance.

Damian and Mar’i watched until she was gone completely, then went back inside and closed the door.

“So,” Damian asked, “what do you want to do?”

\---------------

“Draw Four!” yelled Mar’i, excitedly slamming down the card.

“Oh, no.” groaned Damian, who had known what card was in Mar’i’s hand for some time because she wasn’t very good at keeping them hidden, not to mention that she had been giggling excitedly for several minutes in anticipation of using it. But still, anyone with a heart couldn’t help but find her enthusiasm adorable.

“That means I’ve got Uno.” Mar’i grinned and hid her last remaining card behind her hands; it was a red five, Damian knew.

Hmm. Should he let her win now, or keep the game going a little longer? Well, it had been some time since they had started. Damian made a great show of trying to decide which card to play before setting down a red seven.

“Yeah!” Mar’i threw down her last card and cheered. “I win! Yay!”

“Yes, I guess you do.” said Damian, sneakily recording her on his phone: Dick and Kory would be sure to appreciate it.

“That means you have to let me watch cartoons.” Mar’i declared.

“Does it?”

“Yep.”

Damian shrugged. Why not?

A few minutes later, the two of them were sitting on the couch, Mar’i tucking into a bowl of what looked like applesauce but was apparently actually made from some Tamaranean fruit called a tliacar. Damian had tried a bit; it tasted like someone had spilled a can of Pepsi into a bowl of stewed prunes, but Mar’i seemed to enjoy it.

Mar’i’s cartoon of choice was called The Adventures of Mister Rabbit. It was about a goofy and mild-mannered children’s book illustrator named Jimmy O’Hara, who when danger threatened took up the mantle of Mister Rabbit, a grey-and-white suited superhero with the power to jump really high and kick things. Along with a bevy of similarly goofy animal-themed heroes, he fought to protect the citizens of Wildton from the many villains that threatened them.

Of course, since it was a children’s show, none of the villains ever did anything particularly threatening; the current episode was about a guy named Sad Sheep trying to release a gas that made people frown. Damian couldn’t help but notice that the episode was also doubling as an easy-to-understand PSA about how to avoid clouds of harmful gas: you had to love TV made in Gotham.

It was entertaining enough for a cartoon targeted at the 4-7 year old crowd; Mar’i was delighted, cheering along whenever Mister Rabbit saved the day. After they had been watching for an hour and Damian had decided that was enough TV for one afternoon, she bounced happily up and down the hallway as he put the dishes away, spouting catchphrases from the show and practicing kicks.

“For evil will always lose!’ she said, launching into a side kick that nearly knocked over a side table.

“You should be more careful.” Damian pointed out as he reached over to steady a wobbling lamp.

“Sorry.” said Mar’i, looking contrite.

“No, I mean, well, you probably should be more careful not to knock things over, but I meant that you should be more careful about imitating stuff from TV. Mister Rabbit has terrible form on those side kicks.”

“Really?” Mar’i asked.

“Really.” Damian confirmed. Honestly, Dick ought to be more careful in making sure the kid didn’t pick up any bad habits.

Mar’i pondered for a second. “Can you do a good side kick?”

“Sure.” said Damian. He stepped over to where he wouldn’t hit anything and snapped off a picture-perfect example.

“Whoa.” Mar’i was starry-eyed. “Can you show me how to do that?”

Damian thought about it for a second. It wasn’t like Dick and Kory’s kid was ever going to grow up unfamiliar with martial arts, and besides, it was good exercise.

“Of course. Let’s go outside.”

\-------------

Two hours of enthusiastic jumping about and practicing later, with only the occasional break to play tag or look at a cool bug, Mar’i could actually perform a pretty decent side kick; she was a quick learner. She’d also broken at least a dozen sturdy boards while practicing on the fence; apparently she took after her mother in more than just coloration and hair.

“How did you learn to do side kicks?” Mar’i asked innocently. Damian froze for a second.

(The cold grey practice room, the stern old master who adjusted your position with a willow switch and managed to say ‘Again’ with the force of a whip crack, the soreness in his legs that he had to ignore because he had to be perfect…)

Damian was broken out of his recollections by Mar’i hugging him.

“What’s-” he started to ask.

“You had the look.” said Mar’i.

“The look?”

“The look.” Mar’i said solemnly. “Like Mama gets sometimes. When she remembers something bad.”

“Oh.”

“Are you ok?” Mar’i asked, looking up at him with worry shining in her eyes.

“Yes, I’m fine.” said Damian. “Just a little bad memory. It was a long time ago, and it doesn’t really matter now.”

“Are you sure?” Mar’i asked.

“I’m sure.” Damian said, smiling at her. “Why don’t you go inside and get washed up for dinner?”

“Okay!” said Mar’i, rushing to the back door.

Damian hung back for a second, collecting his thoughts. He mostly didn’t think about his time with the League of Assassins these days, and it had never used to bother him before, but sometimes it snuck up on him. Cassandra said it was because he had finally been able to get enough family support to process things properly, and she was probably right. It was alright, though. He had gotten a hug from a four-year old girl because he looked sad. Things could not be more different now.

He went back inside and started getting dinner ready, sticking plates in the microwave and setting the table. It was a nice kitchen, though about half of the food in it was unrecognizable; apparently everyone wanted to make sure that Mar’i didn’t miss out on the Tamaranean side of her heritage. Damian also couldn’t help but notice that someone, most likely Kory, had made sure that the kitchen knives were of a make that could be used to cut up a lot more than carrots if necessary. He approved. 

Mar’i finished washing up, and they sat down to dinner, which was pasta with alfredo sauce, mixed veggies, and cutlets of some sort of Tamaranean meat that tasted kind of like lamb. They talked about Mar’i’s school and what she had learned yesterday and her teachers; Mar’i seemed rather enthusiastic about all of it.

“Did you do anything fun yesterday?” Mar’i asked.

Damian thought back to when the mentally unhinged child kidnapper they had been chasing through the sewers for an hour had held a group of middle schoolers hostage with an assault rifle and Damian had needed to keep him occupied in conversation until Duke could sneak up on him.

“No.” he said. 

He racked his brains for some more child-friendly adventures. “But a few days ago, there was the case of the missing diamond ring.”

He regaled Mar’i with the tale of the heirloom diamond ring that had been stolen from a nineteenth-story room with no signs of a break-in, a locked door, and only one window too small for any human to fit through. The mystery had stumped them for hours(they hadn’t had anything better to do that day) until Stephanie had found the ring in a nearby magpie’s nest.

“Whoaaa.” said Mar’i. “That’s a cool mystery.”

“It really was.” Damian agreed. If you asked him it had actually been kind of pointless, but as long as Mar’i was entertained.

Mar’i finished her veggies, then looked thoughtful for a second.

“I have a question.” she said.

“Go ahead.”

“Papa says you’re his little brother, right?”

“Right.” said Damian. He preferred being called a younger brother, but Mar’i probably didn’t have a firm grasp on the different connotations yet.

“So does that mean you’re my uncle?” Mar’i asked.

“Huh.” said Damian. Somehow it had never crossed his mind. “Yes, I suppose it does. You can call me Uncle Damian if you want.”

“Ok, Uncle Damian.” said Mar’i.

He had a niece. Somehow it hadn’t really hit him until now.

The light of the setting sun started to flow through the windows and splash like amber down the walls, and Damian realized it was getting a little late.

“Come on.” he said. “Let’s clear the table and get ready for bed.”

\----------------

Kory sighed and stretched the cricks out of her neck as she walked back out into the fresh air, the cool night a welcome change from the oppressive atmosphere of the underground tunnels where they had been destroying the mining robots.

The other Titans were also relaxing after the long fight, except for Vic and Dick, who were working with the brain of one of the destroyed machines, trying to see why it had gone haywire. Dick had been suspicious about the whole thing from the start (that many robots? all going haywire at once? and going straight for a major population center while the Justice League was conveniently unavailable?), and his suspicion had only grown once they had gotten into the tunnel network. Not only had the supposedly random virus that hit the robots apparently programmed them for combat, but the robots had spread out in a way that suggested they were trying to keep the Titans occupied as long as possible.

There was definitely something fishy going on, that was for sure. But fortunately, the Titans were no strangers to fishy business.

“Have you found anything yet?” Kory asked.

“Well, these robots were definitely reprogrammed by H.I.V.E.” said Dick.

There was a collective groan.

“Of course they were.” said Roy, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“When are those guys going to learn?” said Gar.

“I’m hacking into the programming right now to see what the overall plan might be.” said Vic.

“Hopefully they were just trying to murder us.” Donna said wryly. 

“Doesn’t look like it.” said Vic. “I’m just getting into the mission data, and it looks like a H.I.V.E kidnapping team is running some kind of mission right now.”

“Roy, get the jet started.” said Dick. Roy had already been halfway to the cockpit when Dick spoke.

“I’ve got a location.” said Vic. “It’s a residential neighborhood in Gotham. That’s odd. There’s nothing there but-”

“Our house.” said Kory. A jolt of fear ran down her spine. She grabbed a communicator and called home. “Damian! Damian, come in!” 

There was nothing but static; the line was jammed.

The rest of the team was already scrambling for the jet. Kory hastily crammed in with them as Roy hit the throttle and made for Gotham at top speed. If H.I.V.E tried to get their claws on her daughter, there was going to be hell to pay.

\---------------------

Damian leaned up against the wall in the upstairs hallway, and watched the shadows of the leaves and branches flutter in the breeze. It was actually quite peaceful.

After a bath and a bedtime story about looking for cows, Mar’i had settled down to sleep, and Damian had settled down to stay up all night keeping an eye on things. Dick had told him not to go without sleep or anything while babysitting, and he wasn’t; he had taken a nap before coming over and was going to go to bed once he left. But in the meantime, he was on guard; you couldn’t be too careful, especially with family. Dick and Kory’s house was probably a secure location, but probably wasn’t certainly.

Besides, it was nicely meditative. Like a stakeout, but climate-controlled, and with less stress. Just him and the shadows of the trees painted on the wall, flickering past…

That wasn’t a tree shadow.

Damian burst into Mar’i’s room just as someone dressed in black started climbing through the window. The intruder didn’t make it past the sill before Damian kicked him in the face and sent him plummeting hard to the ground below. The intruder’s partner, still perched on the tree branch outside, whipped a shuriken at Damian, who caught it and threw it back, catching her in the shoulder and knocking her off her perch.

No one else seemed to have chosen that particular window for an entrance point, so Damian took a second to call for backup.

“Starfire, come in.” No answer; the line was jammed, which was worryingly sophisticated for a kidnapping job. League of Shadows? No, not unless the standards for ninja training had taken a severe dip since Damian had left. Probably some enemy of the Titans, then.

“What’s goin’ on?” muttered Mar’i, rubbing at her eyes as she woke up. Damian quickly walked over to the bed and shushed her.

“There’s some bad guys here, but just stay close and listen to me and everything will be fine, okay?”

“Okay.” Mar’i whispered.

“Now I need you to get up and stay behind me, alright?”

Mar’i nodded and clambered out of bed, while Damian thought over his options for getting into the hallway, since anyone else on the kidnapping team would probably be rushing to Mar’i’s bedroom once the first pair failed to report back. Ordinarily he would just toss out a smoke bomb, but Mar’i didn’t have a respirator, so that was out.

Oh, well, these guys didn’t seem to have been expecting to face anyone of Damian’s caliber anyway. He would just have to wing it and hope for the best.

Motioning Mar’i to stay behind him, Damian made as if he was going to step out into the hallway, then suddenly ducked. A dart zipped from his right through where his neck had been and hit someone on the left, who only managed to curse a little before falling asleep. The dart-thrower got a batarang to the face for his trouble and joined his teammate in unconsciousness.

Damian grabbed Mar’i hand and the two of them went downstairs as the crash of a few more people breaking into Mar’i’s room sounded behind them. There was another pair of operatives coming through the living room when they got there. One fired a taser at Damian, who easily dodged and kicked the coffee table into the pair’s shins, then knocked them out in two swift blows as they struggled to keep their balance.

“Are you doing okay?” Damian asked Mar’i.

She nodded. Damian was impressed; most kids her age would have been a lot more scared. But then again, it probably wasn’t that surprising, considering who her parents were.

Another five kidnappers came pouring down the stairs after them, brandishing various weapons. One threw a couple of knives at the two of them, and Damian was too busy dodging to stop the group from making it downstairs. The five spread out and surrounded Damian and Mar’i; they were at least professional enough for that. Damian eyed them warily, waiting for one of them to make the first move. One lunged at him with some sort of cattle prod-type thing; he grabbed it by the non-electrified part, snapped it in half, and clubbed the operative over the head with it.

There was a yelp from behind him; one of the other operatives had tried to take the opportunity to grab Mar’i while Damian dealt with his comrade. He got a hand on her shoulder, but then Mar’i kicked him hard in the kneecap. (A distant part of Damian’s brain proudly noted her excellent form in doing so.) The man shrieked and reeled back, and Damian clocked him in the jaw hard enough that he broke a chair as he fell on it. 

The remaining three opponents took the opportunity to attack; Damian narrowly dodged a katana aimed at his head, grabbed Mar’i, and vaulted over a counter into the kitchen. The enemies moved to follow, and Damian looked around for some sort of weapon. The knives were all at the other end of the room, but there had to be something… there. A frying pan. It would do.

Damian picked up Mar’i and held her cradled close with one arm, and brandished the pan with his other hand, glaring at the three kidnappers as they walked around to come in the kitchen after them.

The ninjas advanced slowly, the one with the katana in the lead. Damian looked them over; they were well-armed, and didn’t look inclined to take any chances after so many of their colleagues had been taken out. This could be tricky.

Damian’s glance drifted over to the lead enemy’s katana. While it wasn’t as bad as the kind of things you saw in mall display windows, it didn’t seem to be up to the standards of the ones the really good assassins used. That gave him an idea.

As the three drew closer, Damian turned so that Mar’i was between him and the enemies, then lashed out with the pan, shattering the katana and spraying metal shards everywhere. As the three kidnappers reeled back, Damian lunged and laid about them with the frying pan.

A second later, he took an inventory: three unconscious kidnappers, one bent frying pan, and one unharmed niece. Perfect. Damian himself had only taken a few little nicks from the broken sword. He carried Mar’i out of the kitchen and set her down.

“Careful.” he told her. “There might still be some sharp bits of metal lying around.”

“Okay.” she said. “That was really cool!” she added. Apparently kidnappers lost some of their terror when you had an uncle who could beat them all up.

Damian picked up the phone to call 911 and get someone to pick up the kidnappers, and got a dial tone. Phones were down too, then. He would have to figure out where the jammer was before…

There was a crash as someone kicked the front door in. The previous infiltrators had already unlocked it, so Damian wasn’t sure why one would bother, but some people apparently just liked kicking doors.

A man strode confidently in and surveyed the room. He was wearing a yellow and black bodysuit with an H on it and carrying a matching hexagonal shield.

“Sheesh.” he said. “The spooks sure made a mess of it, huh? Suppose it stands to reason Nightwing and Starfire wouldn’t have a normal babysitter. What are you, Robin or something?”

Damian shrugged. “And who are you?” he asked.

“The name’s Private H.I.V.E.” said the man. “And just to be nice, I’ll give you one chance to give me the kid before I lay you out.”

“No.” Damian answered flatly. “You should run away while you still can.”

“Ooh, scary.” said Private H.I.V.E., rolling his eyes.

“Why do you want her anyway?” Damian asked. “Don’t the Titans beat you guys up enough already?”

“Aw, but she’s half Tamaranean.” said Private H.I.V.E., grinning. “She’ll be a great weapon. Just needs a couple of microchips, a little brain surgery.” He tapped his temple, still grinning.

Mar’i winced and stepped back behind Damian a little. He laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“Mar’i.” he said. “Just stay right here, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Aww, isn’t that cu-” The villain’s remark was cut off as Damian snatched up a kitchen knife and rushed at him. The shield barely made it up in time to block a stab at his shoulder, and Private H.I.V.E. jumped back to get some space before coming back at Damian, trying to hit him with the rim of his heavy shield. Damian dodged and tried to sweep the villain’s ankles; he hopped over it, and Damian had to lean away from another jab of the shield.

Private H.I.V.E. (what a stupid name, honestly) kept coming on, smashing his heavy shield around; his reach was good, and he was too well trained to let Damian easily get a cut in at his arms. Damian kept dodging and looking for an opening. Maybe if he jumped up on the counter and flipped behind him? He couldn’t just grab the rim of the shield, because…

Actually, the shield didn’t seem to have a sharpened rim, or any electrification, or any of the other tricks that smart shield-users used to stop people from grabbing the rim. It was just a thick hexagon of solid steel. Well, that simplified things.

As Private H.I.V.E. took another swipe at him, Damian sidestepped, then grabbed the rim of the shield, pulled it aside, and neatly sliced the tendons in the villain’s elbow. The shield dropped from Private H.I.V.E.’s grasp, and Damian, still holding it, pirouetted and cracked him across the jaw with the edge. He gurgled and dropped. 

Damian sighed. Honestly, with such a lackluster team, why had H.I.V.E even bothered?

“Did you beat him, Uncle Damian?” Mar’i asked.

“Yes.” he said. “And I think that was the last of them.”

Damian looked around intently, but nothing seemed to challenge that claim.

“You were pretty brave.” he told Mar’i, reaching over to pull her into a hug. “Good job.” 

“Thank you.” she said.

They just hugged for a second before Mar’i relaxed and pulled away.

“Come on.” said Damian. “Let’s get this place cleaned up and call your parents.”

\------------------

Damian was actually still in the middle of dismantling the comm jammer that had been wired into the electrical system when the T-Jet streaked in fast enough to rattle the windows and Kory burst out the door with a starbolt ready in hand, with Dick and the rest of the Titans close behind her.

They seemed almost a little taken aback when they found nothing but a dozen H.I.V.E. agents tied up on the lawn with Damian and Mar’i standing nearby trying to disentangle the jammer without destroying the phone lines.

“Hi Mama!” said Mar’i.

Kory rushed over and pulled her into a hug. Dick came over and joined them, while the rest of the Titans went to look over the captured H.I.V.E. agents.

“Hey, you beat up Private H.I.V.E., nice.” Beast Boy reached over for a fist bump; Damian sighed and obliged him.

“Can one of you get this jammer?” Damian asked. “I need to get these guys picked up; no one’s in imminent danger but some of them probably need medical attention. Most of them, actually.”

Cyborg popped a little electrical probe out of his finger and zapped the device, which smoked and fell off. Damian proceeded to pick up the phone and get emergency services summoned.

Private H.I.V.E. woke up, saw that he was tied up and surrounded by superheroes, and tried to curse at them, which was a mistake, considering his broken jaw.

“Don’t you start.” said Red Arrow. “That’s what you get for trying to kidnap a kid.”

“Yeah, not cool man.” Beast Boy agreed.

Troia (no, wait, she was mostly just going by Donna lately) walked over to the tied up H.I.V.E. agents, looked them over, and then shook one awake.

“How did you find this house?” she asked.

“Google Maps.” the operative muttered sullenly. Donna sighed and tossed her lasso over him.

“It was a lucky interception of a communication from Titans Tower that we managed to triangulate to a few neighborhoods in Gotham.” the operative said flatly. “After that we just surveilled everyone’s houses until we saw someone familiar.” 

Donna shook her head. “Well, at least the information security breach wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

“Yeah, we’ll just have to move houses and be more careful about sending transmissions between home and the tower in the future.” Dick agreed, walking over. “Are you alright?” he asked Damian. “You’ve got some cuts there.”

“I had to break a sword.” Damian answered. “Nothing that I couldn’t have gotten from playing with a cat.”

“Good.” Dick pulled him over into a quick hug. “Thanks for helping out.”

“You have my thanks as well.” Kory agreed.

Damian shrugged. “Don’t mention it. She is family, after all.”

Mar’i grinned. “Yeah, Uncle Damian is the best babysitter.”

“He certainly is.” Kory agreed.

A few ambulances pulled up to the house and started taking the captured H.I.V.E. agents on board.

“Well, it looks like our work here is done.” Beast Boy said cheerfully.

“But we didn’t do anything.” Cyborg pointed out.

“Right, so that means it’s extra done.”

Mar’i giggled, then yawned.

“I guess you’re up a little late, huh?” said Dick. “Come on, we’re going to go stay at Grandpa’s for tonight.”

“I’ll get the jet taken care of and get things squared away with the authorities.” said Red Arrow. “The rest of you guys have a good night.”

The team went their separate ways, and Dick ducked inside for a second to call ahead and grab an overnight bag before heading out to the car with Kory and Mar’i.

“You want a ride back to the manor?” he asked Damian.

“Sure.” 

They all piled in and set off, Mar’i soon falling asleep in her mother’s lap in the backseat. The rest of them kept quiet so she could sleep, and soon they were pulling up to Wayne Manor, where Alfred had somehow already gotten one of the guest rooms ready. Damian made his way to his room and was soon blissfully asleep.

\------------------

Kory smiled at the feel of the morning sun on her skin as she swooped through the gymnastics equipment in Wayne Manor’s well-appointed exercise room. As much as she usually preferred to stay in a smaller and more homey place, she had to admit that it was nice to have a room big enough to fly around in for her morning exercises.

Dick was busy arranging for them to get a new house, and Bruce and Cassandra had gotten happily dragged along by Mar’i to go explore the nearby woods after breakfast, and so Kory was taking the opportunity to get her workout in before getting on with the rest of the day. Not that there was going to be anything she needed to do other than hanging out with her family, but still.

Still enjoying the sunlight, Kory swept through the rings and bars, running through martial arts forms and flying acrobatics.

There was a polite knock on the doorframe, and Damian walked in.

“Good morning.” he said, before setting to work on a punching bag. Aside from a few little bandaids, he seemed to be quite well.

“Good morning.” Kory said. “How are you?”

“Good.” he said. “It’s a nice day.”

“That it is.” Kory agreed as she dove into a scything aerial kick. Damian glanced over as she did, looking puzzled for a moment before his face lit up with recognition.

“So that’s where Dick learned that move.”

Kory smiled. “It’s from a Tamaranean martial art called Alokva’si. The style is designed around flight, but Dick was able to adapt some of it to go with his acrobatics.”

“I always wondered where he picked that up.” said Damian. “I suppose it makes sense; few human martial arts make provisions for people who routinely launch attacks from a position half a meter above their opponents.”

“I could teach you some Tamaranean fighting styles too, if you’d like.” said Kory.

“Really?” Damian asked.

“Certainly. It’s only fair.” Kory said. “After all, Mar’i was very excited to show off the cool kick she learned from Uncle Damian after breakfast this morning.”

Damian’s mouth quirked up in what was almost a smile. “She is a pretty good student.”

Kory gently drifted down to land next to Damian.

“Thank you for teaching her, by the way. And for everything else.”

“You’re welcome.” said Damian. “Though I’m really just doing my job, as both vigilante and uncle.”

“And such a good job it is.” Kory said. “I somewhat feel as if I owe you an apology for worrying.”

“You don’t.” said Damian.

“Be that as it may, I do wish I had put more effort into getting to know you better before this.” Kory said. “We are family now, after all.”

Damian thought about that for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

“Well, there’s no time like the present.” he said.

Kory smiled back. “No, there certainly is not.”

She paused for a second, then stretched out her arms.

“So, Tamaranean martial arts.” she said. “There are quite a number, of course, and I would be happy to show you all the ones I know, but based on what I’ve seen of your fighting style, I think we should start with Latar’si, the-” Kory thought for a second. “Well, it is a bit of a tricky translation, but in English it comes out to something like the Talent of the Claw.”

Damian grinned. “That sounds fun. Lead on.”

And as she guided Damian through the first steps in learning the forms, Kory reflected on when she had first come to Earth, and had wondered if it would ever feel like home. But that had been the wrong question: while the planet itself was still strange to her sometimes, the friends and family she had made there would be her home no matter where she went. She couldn’t have asked for more.

**Author's Note:**

> I wonder if anyone ever did anything with the idea of Tamaranean fighting styles in the comics; I couldn't recall any myself. You'd think it would come up occasionally, like Kryptonian stuff does. Oh, well, that's what fanfic's for. Also, there are surprisingly few H.I.V.E.-specific villains, so I pulled one out of the cartoon from the '00s and modified him a bit for the purpose. Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
